Adventurer rescued after failed solo ocean row

Japan's coast guard rescued British adventurer Sarah Outen early Friday after a severe tropical storm damaged her boat and forced her to abandon a solo row across the ocean.

"She was rescued at 5:45 pm (0845 GMT)" in waters about 600 miles east of Sendai, northeastern Japan, a Japanese coast guard officer told Agence France-Presse. "We have a report that she can walk on her own."

Outen was attempting to become the first woman to row from Japan to Canada, the BBC reports.

"Sarah is bearing up well and demonstrating the strength and resolve that has brought her the huge distance on the journey so far," AFP said her support team reported on www.sarahouten.com. "The request for her first meal back on land in Japan is 'PANCAKES PLS. COLD OJ. GRAPES.'"

[Slideshow: Outen rescued from storm]

She was 24 days into her journey from a port near Tokyo to Vancouver when she sent out a distress call. The BBC said a tropical storm caused her boat, Gulliver, to roll several times and damaged it.

The BBC reported that Outen, 26, said on an earlier podcast from the boat: "Gulliver took a real beating at the hands of the tropical storm. It was much stronger than we had originally thought."

"These are the roughest and most frightening conditions I have ever been in," she said in the BBC story.

Coincidentally, a Japanese patrol boat is on its way toward fellow Briton Charlie Martell, who was separately attempting to row solo across the Pacific when he was also caught in bad weather, AFP reports.

Martell, 41, made his distress call when winds of up to 50 knots and waves of more than 50 feet caused his boat to capsize several times, damaging the vessel, the BBC reported.

He was aiming to claim the record for the fastest crossing of the North Pacific, according to AFP.

Martell was at sea for 34 days and was about 700 miles into his journey from Choshi, Japan, to San Francisco when he ran into trouble, according to the BBC.

He is expected to be rescued by the Japanese coast guard on Saturday.

Ms Outen, 26, said on a podcast from the boat: "Gulliver took a real beating at the hands of the tropical storm. It was much stronger than we had originally thought.

"These are the roughest and most frightening conditions I have ever been in.